Review for omen Sight. Game for PC, PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch, the video game was released on 15/05/2018 The version for Nintendo Switch came out on 13/12/2018
"Once upon a time there was a kingdom ruled by an iron-fisted emperor and a heroine who must save that kingdom from the impending end": this could be the opening words of omen Sight, spiritual continuation of Stories: The Path of Destinies of the detached house Spearhead Games, if it were a fairy tale.
In fact, Omensight, of the fable, has all the elements, having as main characters animals exactly as it fits with this ancient literary genre of moralistic mold.
"Birds, mice and ..."
We are ad Ullaria, kingdom divided into two great tribes: that of the birds, the rulers by name Pygaria e Rodentia, land of rodents that paw for independence. The two species have been in a bitter war with each other for years, led respectively by the stern Emperor Indrik and the young mouse Ratika. The war comes to a head, due to the brutal murder of Vera, Priestess-without-God owl, which accelerates the conflict.
Obviously, being Omensight a video game, we become active part of the narrative, in the role ofHerald (Harbinger), a mute and ethereal female figure with blue hair gathered in a long ponytail, the last in a long trail of Heralds whose task is to save the world when the situation becomes critical and now the death of the Priestess upsets the balance of the world. In fact, if our purpose will be to investigate who is guilty of this shame and bring the soul of the Priestess back to the Tree of Life (a modern Yggdrasil) to allow for reincarnation, the game, while focusing on that, adds some spice to the story: avoid the destruction of the world due to the awakening of the serpent Voden, the purple incarnation of the Void.
The Harbinger will arrive during the last moments of the conflict, and through a bond with the soul of the other fallen protagonists can travel through time, more precisely in the memories of each individual character, to discover and change the course of events.
The mystery of Vera will accompany us from the beginning to the end of the game, through numerous journeys into the memories of the last day of the characters they will become active allies (or enemies) and playmates, with their own fighting skills and dialogue throughout "their" history.
The characters who will accompany the Herald are five, whose stories and pasts are intertwined: Indrik, sovereign bird of Ullaria with an iron fist, who inherited the throne; Sandcarriera loyal and sensible feline general in the royal army; Ratika, a young and light-hearted mouse chosen as commander of the troops of Rodentia who, strumming the balalaika received as a gift, uses the so-called bardic magic; Ludomir, a beefy bear with a habit of drinking and a bond with the Priestess-without-God; Edge, alongside his majesty and the fundamental task of balancing the forces of the world. The game revolves around these six figures, plus a side one, the Strega, who guides (and saves) the Herald. Scattered around the game world, with a little healthy exploration, it will be possible to find memories of each character, which read in the special menu will reveal themselves as extracts from a great novel that explores individual animals: we will discover, for example, how it is difficult for felines like Draga to climb the social ranks, being frowned upon by society, how Ratika comes into possession of balalaika, Indrik's childhood and other small goodies.
The game world is divided into five areas including, for example, the Prison or the Forest. Having to move from start to finish between these five places, we will end up knowing them by heart, because you know how time travel and Omensight is no exception: repeating the same events until a change, a discovery, changes on the last day (nerve center of events and maximum "time" in which the Herald moves) to get closer to the truth. From this point of view, since the areas are always the same (but traveled with slightly different characters and events) the game can be a bit repetitive. It must be said that not the entire map of the five places will be immediately available with a character: often we will have to wait for a different course of events to “unlock” parts that were reluctantly ignored before.
Ad to increase replayability there are Seals, real magic locks linked to the different characters that are unlocked with intuition during the adventure. Spearhead Games tries to give variety to places through these gimmicks and if in part it succeeds, for another greater part the places are always the same, most of the time ending up revealing more collectibles, however worthy of collection (especially the memories). Omensight, however, rewards exploration, so much so that it adds an experience bonus at the end of the level if we were good explorers.
"The truth will destroy your soul"
To change the course of events are the omensights, revelations that - in addition to giving the name to the game - we will find during our investigations and can be given to the characters already met to make them behave differently, since the women'sight is a truth that is transmitted by the Herald to a character as such and beyond doubt. The omensights are also responsible for dividing the game into Acts, gradually clearing the fog over Vera's death (thus removing Voden's threat).
Omensight is described as a Action Murder-Mystery, while possessing elements from Role playing game and basic platformer: from the Tree of Life, to which we can return at any moment, we can level up through the experience accumulated and acquire new skills how to shoot lightning fast or slow down time around us; through the Amber, on the other hand, found by smashing everything in front of us and opening chests scattered around the different maps, it will be possible to buy upgrades to increase health, energy, decrease the reload times of skills and even add bonus damage to some of our allies.
With the ability to choose between three different difficulties (obviously, we played hard mode) i fights turn out to be very close with the ability to dodge at the last second to avoid being overwhelmed by enemies, rewarding the risk of combo concatenation for amber and extra energy, which unlocks exclusive attacks depending on the counter. To help us, as mentioned, there will be the characters of memories in which we decide to delve into, and they will be very helpful in this regard, consistent with their skills. In general, the combat is more tactical than it first appears, and care must be taken not to fall, even when using nearby objects such as barrels or columns. Of note, as proof of the awareness of Spearhead Games, the comments of the characters when we try to hit them with our blade or we will try too hard to destroy objects, fun and fitting, plus a tasty role-playing detail of a particular character. Regarding the boss, they will never be really difficult: the Herald is a force of nature, especially if you abuse a certain skill but the bosses are certainly not the component on which the game wants to bet.
In addition to a game difficulty, there is also one narrative difficulty: the game will allow us to choose between one "assisted" detective mode it's a "real detective" mode. The main difference is that playing with the second mode will come prevented from consulting a sphere of intuitions with which it is possible to keep track of the clues (in green) that we extrapolate from the game dialogues, divided by character and timeline. A feature completely absent in true detective mode, in which the game abandons the player to his own destiny, allowing him to make the connections himself, but without a real final reward. In simple terms, true detective mode because it doesn't add anything, if not having to write down the clues and the various connections in a notebook. The "assisted" mode does not spoil the experience nor facilitates it that much, it is more a quick visual aid and the advice is to consult it when necessary.
"A race against and over time, but ..."
Omensight is localized in Spanish, including subtitles, and only the English dubbing of the title. It has us very impressed and did not make us miss the Spanish one: the characters have voices consistent with their character (honorable mention for Ratika's singing skills) and help to immerse us in the game world and become attached to the characters, although the “role” component of the title soon fades as the Herald, in order to carry out the investigation, there will be no scruples about helping or - at times - killing in a rather brutal way who five minutes ago called an ally. The Herald is a super partes figure dedicated to saving the world, of course, but we would have appreciated an effective possibility of choice and above all of empathy with the protagonist in this context.
Le music they are very worthy and do their part; we admonish, instead, for the scarcity of settings (you can only change the brightness and vibration controller) and it screen not perfectly cropped, which cannot be changed (which only affects the experience near the statues of the characters in order to delve into their memories). There Spanish translation it is good, but there are minor typos here and there. Before coming to PlayStation 4, the game suffered from having only one (disappointing) ending despite the time travel nature of the game which instead invites multiple endings. Also thanks to the complaints of the players, Spearhead Games has unlocked an alternate and post-credits ending, with which he fixed a fundamental error and gave justice to the title.
Spearhead Games' commitment to creating a coherent and captivating game world is clear: Omensight is a deserving and fun title, with the right duration and the right price, and much deeper than it appears on the surface. Lovers of fiction will find bread for their teeth through memories. The pace of the game is fast-paced, also thanks to a mystery studded with several twists, although playing as the Harbinger we felt like a detective only in part, because the game follows an apparent linearity. Even through the particular use of the Unreal Engine 4, sharp and colorful, Omensight ends up becoming a “little big fairy tale”.
► Omensight is an Adventure-indie-RPG game for PC, PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch, the video game was released on 15/05/2018 The version for Nintendo Switch came out on 13/12/2018
